Bible Synapse
Caesarea Maritima
Site · c. 22–10/9 BC · Time of Jesus · also called Caesarea, Sebastos harbour
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. 22–10/9 BC (Herod's building of the city and harbour)
- Found
- Caesarea, on the coast of Israel. Excavated by many expeditions since the 1950s. Divers have explored Herod's harbour, now under the sea, notably in the Combined Caesarea Expeditions of the University of Maryland and the University of Haifa, which joined work on land and under water.
- Now
- At the site
- Passages
- Acts 10:1, Acts 12:19–23, Acts 23:23–24, Acts 23:33–35, Acts 25:1–6
What it is
A port city that Herod the Great built on the coast of Judaea near an older anchorage called Straton's Tower, and named in honour of the emperor Augustus. For its harbour, Sebastos, his engineers sank timber forms filled with hydraulic concrete to build breakwaters in the open sea, from about 22 BC. The city had a palace on a promontory and a theatre, and it later became the seat of the Roman governors of Judaea.
How it connects to the Bible
Acts sets much of the early church's story here. The centurion Cornelius lived in Caesarea; Herod Agrippa I died after a public appearance there; and Paul was held in the city for two years under the governors Felix and Festus. Acts says Paul was “kept in Herod's judgment hall”, a reminder that the city was Herod's foundation.